Ah, Cyrus... one of my favorite evil bosses in the franchise. An interesting fellow, no doubt. As for what twisted him into the fanatical cult leader that he is, I think we need to look into some traumatic event in his childhood. Perhaps his parents were abusive, and his grandfather laments not having stepped in to stop the abuse. I can see parental abuse and neglect causing him to become withdrawn, prefer machines and other inanimate objects, and ultimately affect his way of thinking. Perhaps his parents instructed their Pokemon to attack him when administering punishment, causing his distrust to expand into Pokemon as well. And maybe his parents also had violent, intense fights amongst each other, leading him to his goal of "eliminating strife" and emotion.